They're all grinning wildly. Is this real? Do they really like me?
Everything is running through my head at a mile a minute, and my heart's palpitations are quickening in my chest. My hand clenches and unclenches at my side, a habit of mine when I'm nervous.
"That was... I'm just... speechless, " Demi manages to speak when the crowd calms down. I break into a wide grin. "This is why we do this, isn't it? You were just amazing, honey. THE best audition I've heard in the whole of this year's auditions. I loved it. I love you, and I KNOW you're gonna go far in this competition. I can feel it, Cassidy."
I smile more, and I'm sure my face is at its final point of stretching into this large grin.
Kelly and Paulina both say they are in love with my voice, and my heart almost stops when Simon asks, "Where have you been?"
Then the tears begin to fall. They're happy tears of course, but they're also tears of shock. These people, some of my idols, are telling me they love my voice. They love my voice. Me, Cassidy Lynn, a plain girl from Marco, Missouri.
I smile through the tears, showing that I'm okay. I am MORE than okay.
"Let's vote," Simon says. I cross my fingers tightly, praying for the best.
"I say yes, definitely yes," Paulina says.
"Sweetie, you're going far, I say yes," Kelly says.
"Yes, Cassidy, a well-deserved 100 percent yes." From Demi.
I have my three yeses, and I'm officially going onto the next round, but one more would mean the world- "You have four very very well-deserved yeses," SImon tells me.
For a moment I can't move; I'm in extreme shock, but when the shock turns to ecstasy I smile and thank them, probably making a fool of myself with my level of excitement. I run off the stage with joyful tears streaming down my face.
When I exit the stage area, my family and Nate are waiting there for me. My mother is the first to run to me and crash me into her embrace. She's crying too, and her makeup's running. Mine probably is too, but I don't care. She pulls back and looks at me and puts her hands on my face, cradling my head in her hands. "My baby's done so well, and she's gonna do even more." She plants a motherly kiss on my forehead before my Dad takes me from her and gives me a hug of his own.
"Congratulations, Sweetie."
When my dad lets me go, Nate comes over and wraps me in his arms. He leans down and whispers into my ear: "I knew you could do it, babe. I knew you could. I had no doubt in my mind."
I smile and look up at him. He leans down and leaves a soft, chaste kiss on my lips. My parents are watching us, and I see that my father has his arm around my mother's waist. Her head is on his shoulder, and he's holding her, comforting her tears.
I feel a tear of my own fall down my face once more, and Nate wipes it away and then trails his finger back behind my ear, taking care of a loose strand of hair. He kisses my head again, and I smile like an idiot.
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The car ride is silent, because we've no idea what to say anymore. My mind is racing as well as my heart for many reasons. I am so excited that my life will change, but the change will possibly be so drastic and insane. If this all works out I'll be on tours and making albums and traveling everywhere and my privacy will be gone. This is my dream though, and everyone's known it for the longest time. Everything will change, but deep down I know I'm ready. I don't want to be known as that little girl from Marco anymore.
We had driven the three hours from marco to Kansas City for the auditions, and now we are driving back. I'm sitting in the back seat of our family car. My parents are seated in the front seat while I'm in the back seat sitting by Nate. He's holding my hand and rubbing the back of it with his thumb soothingly.
I have a stack of paperwork on my lap that I'm thumbing through. It has all of the information for bootcamp which is in three weeks in Miami, Florida. I have three weeks to prepare a song to sing in front of all of my competitors. This will be the moment where I see what I'm truly up against. This will be my true make-it-or-break-it moment.
I look up from the paperwork and look at first my mother, then my father, then Nate. I see that Nate is already looking at me, and he looks into my eyes. I smile at him and squeeze his hand tightly. I speak up," Boot Camp is in three weeks."
My mom turns around in the passenger seat and looks at me, waiting for me to continue.
"I'll be eighteen by then, so I can't take anyone with me," I say sadly. I really wish my mom could accompany me, but that's impossible because we can't afford plane tickets, and the show will only provide the necessary ones, which means I'm the only one who'll be going to Florida.
My mom looks sad for a moment; I can see her face's smile falter. "You'll be fine, sweetie. We'll talk as much as we can, okay?"
I nod, and sit back in my seat. This will be my first escapade as an adult. I leave two days after my birthday.
Carrie's birthday, almost three weeks later:
I don't want to get out of bed. The covers are so warm around me, and they're like a fluffy cloud that houses dreams where I can ride unicorns and sing songs to elves who make me big chocolate cakes. I sigh loudly, knowing that I need to get out of bed. It's a Monday, but I don't have to go to school because I graduated last week.
It's crazy. I'm now an adult... It's my birthday, and I'm eighteen years old. I sit up in bed and rub my eyes with the back of my hand. I slowly scooch to the edge of my bed, where I can see the alarm clock. I can't read it though, because I don't have my glasses. My eyesight's terrible, so I'm basically blind without my glasses.
I blindly search around for my spectacles on my bedside table, and I sigh a sound of relief when I feel the thick, nerdy lenses in the palm of my hand. I slip them onto the bridge of my nose, and the room comes into focus. I'll be leaving this room in just two short days, when my life will possibly change drastically. I shake my head in disbelief. "Wow," I say to myself quietly, just before my door slams open.
"CASSIDY MARIE LYNN, GET YOUR BACKSIDE DOWNSTAIRS."
I look up from where I'm sitting and see my most favorite person in the world, my best friend Jennifer Darren. She runs over to where I'm still seated on the edge of my bed and tackles me into a bear hug, elbowing my boob in the process.
I push my best friend off of me and say, "Ow, Jen, that was my boob."
"Sorry chica, but you need to get up! It's a brand new bright shiny day, and you're eighteen now!" she shouts. "Oh, and Nate's downstairs."
"Why's he here now?" I panic.
"Your mom invited both of us over for breakfast, and the pancakes smell really good and you need to get your butt downstairs or I'll get Nate to come and carry you downstairs in your pajamas. And you don't want everyone to see your pajamas, do you?"
I look down at my ensemble, and laugh. I'm wearing my Winne the Pooh pajama pants and a TShirt from my great uncle's old taco truck.
"I'll be down in ten minutes, " I say, laughing.
Jen pats my head like a freak and walks out of my room.
That girl... I've known her since second grade, when we had to sit next to each other in class. I remember the first day we met each other, I thoroughly hated her. She had some cute pink hairbows that I had seen at Target. My mom wouldn't let me get them, so I despised her having them. Soon enough though, after we got into a bit of a brawl involving fists and hair pulling, we became best friends. It was something involving a mutual hatred for Bobby Saxton, the most annoying child on the planet. He kind of grew up to become Jen's boyfriend.
Stranger things have happened.
I get up and trudge over to my closet. I just grab a neon pink tshirt and some althletic shorts and put those on over my underwear. I'm going to go running later so I put on my sports bra under my shirt.
I brush my teeth and then pile my hair on top of my head. After that I walk downstairs, not bothering to put in my contacts. I'm just wearing my big nerdy glasses.
As I walk down the stairs, I can hear my Nate laughing obnoxiously at my best friend's antics. When there are pancakes involved, she goes a little crazy. I love Jen. SHe's crazy, but I still love her. We've had some pretty crazy adventures over the years.
I hear Nate say, "I hear her!" I then hear a chair scraping the floor in the kitchen and a pair of feet walking to greet me. When he sees me he brings me into an embrace. "Hey, babe," he says. I look up at him and we smile at each other. "Happy Birthday," He whispers, closing the distance between our lips.
We stay there for a moment in our embrace before I hear someone clear his throat at the foot of the stairs. I quickly turn and see my father, and his eyes aren't very happy when he sees Nate kissing me, but his face softens and he says, "My baby's all grown up."
"Dad..."
He brings me into a hug and says, "eighteen. My little girl's eighteen now."
He pulls away from the hug and kisses my forehead loudly and in the most embarassing way. He looks at Nate.
"Nate," my dad says to him in greeting, holding out his hand for him to shake.
After this awkward interaction, we all head into the kitchen where we sit and enjoy some of my mother's delicious pancakes.
The day goes by like any normal birthday, only today I savor my little town even more because I may not come back to it in the same way again. Next time I come here will be either as a winner, or as a disgrace to the town.
In the evening, I am sitting on the couch next to Jen, but snuggled into Nate. Jen's boyfriend Bobby is on the way, and we're all going to watch a movie together. I'm glad I'm not having a huge party. Parties are always too much for me, so it's just great to be with these crazies.
I'm really happy, and I would be content to stay here with them forever, but I know I have things to do.
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Wednesday:
I'm leaving today. I throw three tshirts into my suitcase, along with some bras and underwear, a pair of skinny jeans, a cute pair of high waisted pink shorts that I can pair with my white blouse and my owl neclace, a pair of wedges, athletic shorts, sneakers, and an LBD for a performance.
When I put all of my makeup and toiletries into the bag, I decide to blast some music on my stereo system in the corner of my room. I flip on my "Happy" playlist and "I'm your's " by Jason Mraz comes on with its happy acoustic beat. This is the song I'm singing for my performance in front of the entire group tomorrow. I love how my voice sountds with it.
I sing along and listen to my voice, thinking how they liked it so much. I really didn't see much special about it. Yeah, I could carry a tune and it didn't make me cringe, but it was just that, okay, normal. Nothing special.
I look at the clock by my bed. It's one in the afternoon now: time to go.
I zip up my suitcase and walk to the door of my room. I turn off the light and look at it one more time before my journey begins.
I start down the stairs where my mom, dad, Jen and Nate are waiting. They're all coming to see me off at the airport.
"You ready?" my mom asks.
Nate takes my hand.
"I am," I say.
I wake up over Kentucky.
I look out the window as I stretch off the remainders of sleep. I see the patchwork of fields below me, sprawling like a quilt. I sigh and sit back in my seat, looking at the time. I see that it's three in the afternoon, and we'll be landing in Georgia in about an hour and a half. For some reason this flight isn't going straight to Miami. We're stopping in Atlanta, Georgia and then continuing on. Unfortunately, this means going through another baggage claim and security all over again.
I'm riding first class on this plane. I can see a few few people around, but not many. This flight's not that crowded. There's an old man across the aisle from me, in a business suit. He's constantly blowing his nose on his handkerchief... yeah he has a handkerchief... My grandpa used to have one of those. He said they were handy. I always just thought they were gross.
In front of me is a woman in her thirties. She has a kid with her, and she sounds annoyed every time she speaks to the child, who is going stir crazy having to stay in his seat. I can tell she's one of those mothers you would find on a show like "The Real Housewives." of something or other. She may very well be, but she's probably not a person I would like to strike up conversation with.
I'm kind of angry that I woke up now because now that I'm up, it will be difficult to get back to sleep. I decide to go through my carry-on and see what all I have in there. Surely I brought something to do.
I go through the bag and bring out my iPod and a bar of chocolate, one of my favorite things in the world. I decide to eat the chocolate there, and when I do I savor it like I always savor chocolate. It is one of the best things that ever happened to the world, isn't it?
I throw the candy bar wrapper into my bag and turn on the music louder. It switches to one of my favorite mashups: "Somewhere over the Rainbow" and "I'm Your's" Two soothing, fun, and beautiful songs all wrapped up into one. I fall asleep happily.
I feel a hand on my shoulder, and I open my eyes groggily to see a flight attendant standing in front of my face. "Dear," she says, " You need to get buckled up now. We'll be landing in Atlanta soon."
I do as she says before the plane begins descending. I put my iPod into my bag and put my carryon underneath my seat where it should go. I hold on tight to the armrests and we make our way out of the sky.
The airport terminal is the way most airport terminals are: loud and busy. I can't walk five feet without bumping into someone accidentally. The baggage claim is filled with mobs of people waiting for their luggage. It will take me forever to get up there.
From where I'm standing, I can see my bag among many others. I decide to brave my way through the throngs of people and get to my bag quickly and safely.
The safely part doesn't work out too well, as I fall to the floor after tripping over someone's foot. I grunt in pain as my stomach hits the hard floor. "Ow..." I groan.
I feel a hand on my arm, helping me up from the ground. I'm on my feet and open my mouth to thank whoever helped me out, but I'm speechless when I see who it is. No, it's not a celebrity or anything, but i can see that he's got the look.
His hair is a sandy color, and his eyes are sparkling green. I could stare at them all da- I snap myself out of it and look down for a moment. I need to think about Nate. You love Nate, you idiot.
"Thanks," I say, smiling a bit up at him.
"No problem," he says, and I notice a certain bit of an accent in his voice, but I can't place it. "I'm Chase Weller." He holds out his hand for me to shake. I take it and give it a hearty shake like my dad taught me to when I was younger. I break the handshake when I see my luggage has a clear space around it, and I lunge for the suitcase quickly. When I have it, I cheer triumphantly, earning some odd looks. Chase just looks at me and smiles.
"Cassidy Lynn," I say to him, offering up my name.
"Cool," he says. "Nice to meet you."
"You too, Chase. I'm really sorry, but I need to get going. I'm gonna miss my flight if I stay and talk for long."
"That's cool." He says. "My flight's leaving soon too. Where ya headed?"
"Miami."
"Wow," he says, shocked. "Me too! Do you want to walk together to the plane?"
"I guess," I say. I mean, I guess it wouldn't hurt. We're just walking to the plane right? Nothing more.
I set my suitcase up on the wheels and begin to wheel it with my left hand. With my right, I reach into my crossbody bag and bring out my Xfactor packet. I want to see when boot camp starts tomorrow.
"You are freaking kidding me, " I hear from the guy beside me. I look up at him puzzledly before he says with a bit of shock in his voice, "You're on Xfactor?"
I nod sheepishly. Great, now he's gonna freak out.
"I am too," he says. "Wow! This is the coolest thing that's happened to me today. Just, wow..."
I laugh a bit, and he sends me a smile.
We reach the new terminal and we get our tickets all taken care of before we enter the plane.
I'm seated in A16 for this flight- also first class. As I enter the plane, someone is already sitting in the seat next to mine. I can see that the rest of the First Class is filling up rather quickly too with many assorted people: many of which don't look like they belong in a First Class setting. They all look like random people you'd see walking through town on any given day.
Chase is seated two rows ahead of me next to a girl with bright red hair. He looks back behind him before I sit down and gives a little wave in my direction. I wave back a bit before taking my seat. The girl seated next to me looks like she's around my age. Her hair is long and almost black, and she seems small. She's seated there twiddling her thumbs as if she's nervous.
I break the silence. "Hi, I'm Cass," I say, offering my handshake.
She looks up, and smiles a bit, still looking rather shy. She shakes my hand, and says, "Arianna."
"You going to bootcamp?" I ask.
She nods her head a bit.
"You don't have to be scared of me," I say. I don't want to sit here for three hours by someone and not talk. I just did that on my flight from Missouri and that wasn't fun at all.
She sighs. "I know. I think the nerves are just getting to me a lot. "
"I know that feeling."
She smiles a toothy grin, her white teeth glowing. I'm just happy I won't have to be lonely for the entire trip. I smile back and ask her about herself. I let her talk about her life. She leaves out a ton, and I can tell what she leaves out bothers her, so I don't press. She does talk about her love for music though. She talks about learning guitar and writing music. She seems to have a real passion for it. Once she starts talking, she seems really bubbly and fun. I think I've made a friend, but the only thing to worry about right now is that we both might not make it.